There is a small ditch in the south of Weicheng that is not even a creek. Next to the small ditch is a small slope that is not even a hill. Under the small slope is a fenced courtyard that is not even a small courtyard.
In Shiping's thatched cottage, the rain clouds dispersed early at night, and the extraordinarily bright starlight shone on the ditch, soil slopes, and thatched cottage, immediately coating it with a very beautiful silver halo.
Ning Que pulled on his shoes and walked slowly under the stars. Looking at the thatched cottage in front of him where he and Sangsang had lived for a long time, his speed couldn't help but become slower. But as long as he was walking, he would always arrive no matter how slow he was.
On the day of his destination, he pushed aside the fence that could only protect against dogs but not people, walked to the oil lamp leaking from the crack of the door, raised his hand to cover his lips, coughed twice, and said: "If you go to the capital,
How about it?"
The door of the thatched cottage was pushed open, and a sharp creaking sound pierced the quiet night of the border town.
The little maid Sang Sang squatted down at the door, her thin figure stretched extremely long by the oil lamp. She pressed her finger on the wooden door and replied: "Don't you always want to go to Chang'an? By the way, Ning Que, what are you doing?
Did you just go to the firearms camp to steal some oil? This door has been ringing for several months, and the sound is really unpleasant."
"Who else is using those awkward fire guns now? If you just need oil, I'll go to the supply camp tomorrow and ask..." Ning Que subconsciously answered casually, and then suddenly figured out something, "Hey! I want it
It seems that this is not what I told you. If you really want to leave, why do you care about the broken door? "
Sangsang stood up holding her knees, her thin body looking particularly thin in the cool spring night breeze. She looked at Ning Que and whispered in a serious voice without any other emotions: "Even if we leave,
But there will still be people living in this house, and they will still open the door."
After the two of them left, would anyone really be willing to live in this remote and shabby thatched house far away from the city? Ning Que thought silently, and for some reason suddenly felt more reluctant to leave, and he sighed softly.
He made a sound, sideways squeezed past Sangsang, and whispered: "Pack your luggage tonight."
Sang Sang casually gathered the yellowish hair around her temples, looked at his back and asked, "Ning Que, I never understand why you are so interested in that matter."
"No one can resist the temptation to make themselves stronger. And those gadgets are really interesting to me."
Ning Que knew that the little maid had guessed what he was thinking. He looked up at Sang Sang's dark little face, raised his eyebrows and said, "And we can't stay in Weicheng forever. The world is so big, and there are many countries besides the empire. We
I have to go and have a look, even if it’s just for the sake of earning more money and getting promoted faster, going to Chang’an is much better than staying in Weicheng, so I must get into the academy this time.”
Sangsang's face showed a thoughtful emotion. Because she was still young, the little maid's eyebrows and hair did not grow, and because of the wind and sand in the border town, her little face was dark and rough, and her head was caused by malnutrition in childhood.
She has thin yellowish hair, which is really not good-looking, not even delicate.
But she has a pair of eyes like willow leaves, slender and as bright as ice. In addition, she rarely has any obvious expression, so she does not look like an eleven or twelve-year-old who has a miserable background.
The little maid seems to be a mature woman who knows everything and can see through the world without any hindrance. This extreme contrast between her true age, appearance and eyes makes her look particularly cold and elegant.
Ning Que knew that these were all illusions. In his opinion, the little maid Sang Sang was a typical careless girl. The two had been dependent on each other for so many years. Because she was used to relying on herself to think and do things, she became even more lazy to think about things because she was too lazy to think.
As a result, she became more and more clumsy, and in order to cover up her clumsiness, she used fewer and fewer words in every sentence, so she became more silent, cold, mature and weird.
"It's not stupid, it's clumsy." He thought about something and silently corrected it in his mind.
After being silent for a long time, Sangsang suddenly raised his head, bit his lip, showing a rare timidity, and said, "I heard... Chang'an is very big and there are many people."
"The capital city is prosperous. I heard that the population exceeded one million in the third year of the Apocalypse. The cost of living is extremely expensive. Living in Changan is not easy..."
Ning Que sighed and saw the nervous look on the little maid's face. He smiled and said comfortingly: "There is nothing to be afraid of when there are many people. Just think of Chang'an as a larger Weicheng. Then I will deal with outsiders. You
If you continue to handle things at home as usual, I won't go out as much if I'm afraid of you."
"How much does it cost to buy meat, vegetables, rice and grain in the capital city for a month?"
Sangsang's eyes were as wide as willow leaves, her two small hands tightly grasped the hem of her sarong, and she asked nervously: "Will it exceed four taels of silver? That's twice as much as in Weicheng."
"If you really get admitted to the academy, you have to make some clothes for me with some good fabrics. In addition, there may be guests at home, such as classmates. If a gentleman likes me, your young master, he may come to your home to make clothes.
You have to do it, so you need to at least make some new clothes. I did a rough calculation and found that it would cost ten taels of silver anyway."
Ning Que frowned and replied. In fact, he was just talking nonsense very seriously. He didn't know very well that to the students in the academy, ten taels of silver might be just the price of a casual banquet at Tianxiangfang Zhongda Restaurant—
- Just like the famous joke in Hexi Road: The peasant women working in the fields chatted, always thinking that the Empress of the East Palace was frying meat cakes, and the Empress of the West Palace was peeling green onions. The meat cakes were like the sea, and the green onions were like mountains.
However, even this obviously shrinking wrong answer far exceeded the psychological bottom line of the little maid. She frowned and looked at him seriously and suggested: "It's too expensive... Ning Que, we don't want to go to Chang'an, and you don't want to take the exam either."
Let’s go to college, okay?”
"Ignorant thing." Ning Que reprimanded: "You will definitely become an official after you enter the academy. Then you and I will spend ten taels of silver a month. Why can't I earn seventy or eighty taels of silver in a month in the yamen?"
?Besides, what’s wrong with Chang’an? Don’t use too much rouge and gouache from Chan Kam Kee.”
The four words "rouge and gouache" seemed to be the key to the little maid. She pursed her lips tightly and was obviously in a fierce psychological struggle. After a long time, she replied in a mosquito-like voice: "But what did you do during those years in college?"
?My female celebrity is just average, the people in Chang'an must be very discerning, so I may not be able to sell it."
"This is indeed troublesome. I heard that hunting is not allowed around Chang'an City. Those mountains and forests belong to the emperor... How much money do we have left?"
The master and servant looked at each other, then walked to the two large elm boxes in a tacit understanding, opened the boxes and took out a tightly wrapped wooden box from the deepest part of the box.
The wooden box was filled with scattered silver. There were obvious scratches from the hinges on the silver coins as big as fingernails. There was only one big silver ingot in the middle. At first glance, it was clear that it was saved bit by bit on weekdays, but the quantity was not very large.
many.
Looking at the loose silver in the wooden box, neither of them counted it. Sangsang whispered: "The old rule is to count it every five days. I just counted it the night before, seventy-six taels and four cents."
"It seems that after going to Chang'an, we must find a way to earn more money." Ning Que said seriously.
"Well, I will try to improve my level of female celebrity." Sangsang replied seriously.
At night, Sang Sang knelt on the kang and arranged the bedding. Her skinny knees moved quickly, and her movements were quick and fast. With one press of her little palm, she pressed the middle of the pillow into an arc, which was the most comfortable arc for Ning Que to sleep. Then she hugged her
He picked up his quilt and jumped off the cold bed, walked to the two big elm boxes in the corner of the room and started to make his own bed.
The lights went out, Ning Que put the water bowl on the windowsill, got into bed under the starlight, put his hands on the edge of the quilt, yawned greatly, then let out a sigh of satisfaction, closed his eyes, and after a while
I heard the rustling sound coming from the corner of the house that I had heard for several years.
This is a night that seems to be no different from the past years. They will fall asleep accompanied by the stars of the imperial frontier. However, the real situation is that neither the master nor the servant in the thatched house fell asleep today, or because they are about to embark on the journey.
The excitement and restlessness of entering a new world, or the prosperity of the capital Chang'an, the looming wealth, and the charming scent of balsam and gouache, the two breathing sounds in the corner of the window have never calmed down.
I don't know how much time passed, but Ning Que opened his eyes, looked at the faint silver halo on the window paper, and said in a daze: "I heard... the girls in Chang'an City are not very afraid of the cold, and they wear very thin clothes with open collars.
The body was very big and the body was very white. I don’t know if it was real... I was so young at that time that I don’t even remember it.”
He turned over, looked at the dark corner of the room, and asked, "Sang Sang, have you been sick recently? Will it be cold?"
In the darkness, the little maid seemed to shake her head. She could vaguely be seen clutching the corner of the quilt tightly, her eyes closed tightly, but a very rare smile hanging on the corner of her lips, and she murmured in reply: "I heard that the women in Chang'an City
The children are indeed quite white. They use such good gouache every day, how can they not be white?"
Ning Que smiled, looked at her and said, "Don't worry, when I have money in the future, you can buy Chen Jinji's rouge and gouache as you like."
Sang Sang suddenly opened her eyes, her slender eyes like willow leaves reflecting the bright starlight, and said seriously: "Ning Que, this is what you promised."
"I just said that after you go to Chang'an, you must remember to call me young master. This will show respect."
It has been seven or eight years since Ning Que dug out the cold-blooded little Sang Sang from the pile of dead people by the roadside, and then wandered to Weicheng. Although Sang Sang was listed as a maid in the household registration and did the things of a maid, she never
Calling him Master doesn't mean anything else, it just means a habit.
Today, the little maid Sangsang is forced to give up this habit.
"Ning Que... Young Master... you must remember to promise to buy Chen Jinji for me."
Ning Que responded, his eyes falling on the hoarfrost-like starlight on the ground beside the kang, and his heart tightened for no reason. The feeling of emptiness many years ago came back again. He turned back to look out the window at the dark blue night sky, and looked at
His eyes were filled with stars, and then he lowered his head and missed his hometown, muttering: "There is still no moon today..."
Sang Sang sat on the elm cabinet in the corner of the dark room, curled up like a little mouse in the cool quilt. She reached behind her waist and pulled at it, blocking the cool breath from outside and letting the gap between the two cabinets open.
He didn't seem so intimidating. Hearing the gibbering coming from the window, he thought to himself that Ning Que... the young master started talking such nonsense again.